We may not know it but our skin is an important organ that plays a key role in our health – from regulating body temperature to protecting internal organs from outside infection.
But there is so much more to our skin. Here are some of the most interesting facts about the thin layer of tissue that forms the natural outer covering of our bodies.
1. Skin is the largest organ of the body. On average, your skin stretches out to around 22 square feet and makes up about 16% of your body weight.
2. Europeans were not always light skinned. In 2015, Harvard geneticists found that the five genes responsible for Caucasian skin colour did not evolve until 8,000 years ago.
3. Dead skin accounts for about a billion tons of dust in the atmosphere. Human skin sheds around 50,000 cells every minute – that’s 500 million skin cells each day.
4. We have 200 different types of fungi living in our feet, according to a study published in the journal Nature. Although they live all over the human body, apparently their favourite spots are the heel, under toenails and between the toes.
5. Some people never develop fingerprints at all. Two rare genetic defects, known as Naegeli syndrome and dermatopathia pigmentosa reticularis, can leave carriers without any identifying ridges on their skin.
6. The skin contains around 45 miles of nerves. That’s roughly equal to the distance from London to Reading.
7. Every square inch of the body has around 50 million bacteria on it. Your skin is home to more than 1,000 species of bacteria.
8. It’s actually impossible to tickle yourself. It’s thought this is because your brain can differentiate between expected and unexpected sensation.
9. On average, a human has roughly 1.6 trillion skin cells.
10. The average person has about three million sweat glands, but only some of them, called the apocrine glands, secrete sweat that encourages bacteria to grow and make you smelly.
11. There are mites living in your eyelashes. There are 65 Demodex species but only two of them – the Demodex folliculorum and the Demodex brevis – are typically found on humans.
12. About every 30 days, your body produces a totally new epidermis – the outer layer of the skin.
13. Lime juice can burn your skin. It occurs when skin covered in lime juice is exposed to the sun. The technical name for the rare skin reaction is Phytophotodermatitis but it is often referred to as Margarita Dermatitis.
